The number of people using smartphones in major cities has surged to 84 percent out of the 95 percent of people using mobile phones, an increase of six percentage points from last year.

In secondary cities, 71 percent use smartphones out of 93 percent using mobile phones, a year-on-year growth of nine points.

In rural areas, it is 68 percent out of 89 percent.

“The rapid uptake of connected devices, especially smartphones and tablets, is inevitable in our country,” Doan Duy Khoa, director of Nielsen Vietnam’s department of consumer insights, said in a release.

“This could correspond to the fact that smartphone brands are offering consumers abundant choices at affordable and reasonable prices.

“Another reason is that consumers are enjoying an improving standard of living and expressing their desire for connectivity anywhere and anytime.”

Earlier this year Nielsen had conducted another study in co-operation with Younet Media to shed light on the evolving rural consumer trends.

It found that social media has emerged as a key platform for information, entertainment and keeping in touch with relatives, friends and children, with 22.5 million Facebook users living in rural areas compared with 23.5 million in urban areas.

“This plays an instrumental role in media consumption shifting beyond traditional media formats such as broadcast and cable TV, and also beyond traditional time parts.

“For media owners and advertisers, it is becoming increasingly important to understand both urban and rural consumers’ viewing habits in order to deliver the right content at the right time.”

The report, using online survey method, polled 1,882 frequent online users in major cities, 1,930 users in secondary cities and 2,027 users in rural areas aged 16 years or above.